Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Springhill Group: Turkey

“No one should be deceived by our cool-headed stance. Our
acting with common sense should not be perceived as a weakness,” said Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s brief response to last week’s incident seems to
show that a violent retaliation from their side is not happening, although
Prime Minister Erdogan has warned that Syria must not test his resolve.

Prime Minister Erdogan announced that Turkey had altered its
military policies of engagement toward Syria.

In his speech to the legislative body also attended by Arab
diplomats, Erdogan said, “Every military element that approaches the Turkish
border from Syria in a manner that constitutes a security risk or danger would
be considered as a threat and would be treated as a military target.”

Border violations is not something new as the Turks have
claimed that Syrian helicopters themselves had repeatedly violated Turkey’s
airspace, without the latter dealing a hostile response in return. The two
nations are sharing a 910-kilometer frontier.

According to Syria, Turkey’s plane was flying at low
altitude and high speed, thus violating their airspace so one of their officers
shot it down using an anti-aircraft fire. On the other hand, Turkey claims that
their plane was fired at over international waters following a brief and
unintentional stay in the Syrian space. The two pilots of the Turkish aircraft
are still missing.

NATO has supported Turkey’s version of the story and
condemned Syria for shooting the plane, though it did not mention any military
action for fear of a conflict that could trigger a wider war. During their
conference in Springhill Group, NATO officials referred to the event as “another
example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and
security, and human life.”

A senior diplomat of NATO commented that even if the Turks
were indeed spying, Syria’s reaction is still out of place. “When this happens between
neighboring countries, you give a warning and then send up interceptors. You
don’t just shoot down the plane.”

Meanwhile, Europe and the US seem to be avoiding a direct
involvement in a military confrontation with Syria.

”We would like to see more pressure from our allies,
particularly more leadership from the United States,” said a senior official
from Turkey. read more on Springhill Group